Shot After Dark

A well-known photographer from the late 1800s, Alfred Stieglitz was credited with introducing photography to the modern
art scene.

These days, millions of photos are made in the light, a fact especially true along the picturesque coast of the Panhandle. Just venture to a pier at sunset for proof.

In league with artists like Stieglitz who ventured outside of the norm, local photographers Susan Gunn and Patti Blake find their art in seeking light in the dark.

The Girl Who Bolts

Growing up in Atlanta, Gunn would escape to her front lawn as a child where she would lie flat on her back and look up at the night sky with her dad’s expensive binoculars pressed to her face.

“I have always been a child of the night,” she said.

These days, living in Santa Rosa Beach, Gunn looks forward to the dark of night to search for shots.

“This is going to sound crazy,” she said, “but I feel like I see better at night.”

Gunn believes the calmness of a vibrant blue hour, just before sunrise and just after sunset, relaxes her eyes and allows her to use her camera as an instrument to pull light from nature.

Scrolling her website gallery or Instagram grid, coastal images with dreamy color palettes notably contradict dramatic images of lightning bolts captured amid stormy night skies over the Gulf.

BLUE FUSE by Susan Gunn.“This pretty beach bolt serves as a reminder of the shapes, sizes and colors that lightning can produce, and also why I love photographing lightning so much! This strike was about 15 miles offshore. Always be safe when lightning is in the area.”

Gunn prides herself on a limited use of Photoshop to alter or enhance her images and likes the challenge of shooting “safely” in dangerous conditions. Before her photography career took off, Gunn worked as a paramedic and learned how to keep calm and focus in chaotic and life-threatening conditions. She has treated victims of lightning strikes. Some they were able to revive and others they couldn’t, she said.

“Lightning will kill you,” she said adamantly. “I am always safety first. I know when I feel I need to leave.”

Susan Gunn

Her images also include stunning lunar landscapes, star-filled photos of the Milky Way and even images of comets streaking across the sky. Gunn produces the bulk of her work from the beaches along 30A, and many of her works hang in coastal homes.

Gunn also uses the Instagram page @girlswhobolt to promote other female photographers with a yearning to capture lightning images. The page has 56,000 followers. Her own page @susangunnphotography has 18,000 followers.

As a child, Gunn’s family vacationed along 30A. Since moving to the area 10 years ago, Gunn’s camera has been focused on the beauty of the beaches, coastal dune lakes and starry skies.

“It’s an amazing, incredible place,” she said.

Time-Bending Photography

These days Patti Blake calls Panama City Beach her home. An Indiana girl, Blake came to the Gulf Coast to work as a newspaper photographer and worked her way up to become the first female chief photographer at the Panama City News Herald.

Now, she works as a creative marketing specialist for Walton County Tourism.

“I make pretty things,” she said of her work creating brochures, photos and videos promoting the area.

GRAND CANYON RUINS by Patti Blake “The Desert View Watchtower was illuminated by the last rays of light passing over the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon at sunset while the International Space Station streaks across the sky. The historic Grand Canyon landmark has stood watch on the Southern Rim since construction in 1932 and was designed by American architect Mary Colter. The natural colors of the rocks and the design, which was inspired by the techniques and styles of local tribes, makes the tower almost look like a natural part of the landscape. I love this photo because it brings the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon together with the stars and the International Space Station.”

By night, her creative lens turns toward the sky.

As a kid, Blake remembers being amazed by the idea of a camera being able to capture time and regarded the device as a time machine.

With night photography, Blake says she does a lot of long-exposure shooting which gives her that sense of bending time.

“I love how the long exposures are able to pull the stars out of the sky, stars you might not be able to see with the naked eye.”

Blake’s work consists of hypnotic star trail images where time exposures allow the stars to move in a circular motion sweeping across the night sky. The star trails add life to static landscapes of coastal trees and abandoned fishing boats.

She also likes the challenge of shooting the Milky Way with colors you can’t see without the long exposures. The moon and solar eclipses are also favorite subjects.

TATE’S HELL by Patti Blake. “Tate’s Hell State Forest feels every bit as mysterious and exciting as the name suggests when viewed under the stars. The local legend paints a story of a man stumbling out of the woods in 1875 to say, “My name is Cebe Tate, and I just came from hell,” before he fell down dead. He’d become lost in the woods while hunting a panther that attacked his livestock. I thought about Tate looking at the stars when I shot this photo. I hope the stars are this beautiful on my last night on Earth.”

Blake, 35, posts her work on Instagram as @saltyskyline, a page she started in the past year and already has amassed over 1,600 followers. She also teaches classes in night photography at the Lightroom in Panama City and posts a long list of night photo tips on her website pattiblakephotojournalism.com.

Looking ahead, Blake plans to organize adventure trips to take aspiring night shooters to locations and help them capture dramatic images. She hopes to plan some personal adventures, too, and begin crossing national parks off her bucket list of night shoot locations.

Pattie Blake

At home, most of her images are produced under the night skies at local sites like St. Andrews State Park, Tate’s Hell State Forest and St. George Island.

“I’m really proud to be in a place that has such a beautiful night sky,” she said.

Understanding the challenge of venturing out at night in hopes of a good shot, Blake encourages photographers to take the chance.

“Maybe you’ve worked all day and you’re tired, so you don’t want to put up with hauling your gear out at night,” Blake said. “But I promise you, it is worth it.”

She’s got the pictures to prove it.